INTRODUCTION

The Book of Judges opens with a brief recounting of how the
12 tribes of Israelfailed
to finish the task of laying claim to their territory.

Though Joshua had broken the back
of Canaanite domination throughout the entire region, when the tribes went to
take possession of their assigned borders, they failed at following through on
Joshua’s conquest by ousting the last of the Canaanites villages.

In some places, the Canaanites were allowed to stay &
were put under tribute.

In other places, they regained
control and forced the Jews who lived nearby to surrender the choicest land to
them.

It didn’t take long before the very thing God had warned His
people about was coming to pass; the Jews began to be seduced by the sensual
and immoral practices of the Canaanites.

They began to worship the idols of
Baal & Asherah.

God then sought to correct them by
allowing their enemies to oppress them.

After years of increasing
oppression, the people cried out to God, who sent them a judge, a deliverer who
defeated their oppressors and restored both liberty & the worship of God.

As long as that judge lived, the
people followed the Lord, but once he died, they again fell away & the
cycle started all over again.

II.The Judges 2:11-16:

Last week we saw the story of 3 Judges: Othniel, Ehud, &
Shamgar.

Tonight we read about Deborah; One very serious woman!

D.Deborah & Barak Chs. 4-5

1.Their
campaign Ch.
4

1 When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel
again did evil in the sight of the Lord.

Ehud had brought deliverance from a coalition of enemies
from southeast of Israel.

As long as he lived, he made sure
the people followed Yahweh.

3:30 tells us that the land had
peace for 80 years, the longest period of freedom from oppression in the Book
of Judges.

But not long after Ehud died,
the Israelites once again went after Baal & Asherah.

This period of Israel’s
history well illustrates the difference between religious reformation
& spiritual revival. [1]

Reformation brings only a temporary change to outward
conduct.

Revival permanently alters inward character.

Revival always brings about reformation in one way or another.

When our hearts are revived & fall deeply in love with Jesus,
there’s an inevitable overflow in changes to the way we
live.

Those changes make a impact on others as they see the example
of holiness & whole-hearted devotion to God coming from the one who’s been
revived.

Those others then get caught up, not in the revival, but in the
reformation, & they participate in the changes, but not necessarily with
the same
motive because they haven’t been revived by the Spirit of God.

Historically, this has happened with every major spiritual awakening.

There’s a core group of those who are genuinely revived whose lifestyles
are reformed.

But the reformation expands to others apart from revival.

And reformation without revival becomes a dangerous thing.

It can lead to the harshest forms of legalism.

“The Reformation” was
that period of Western history in which a large number of Christians in Europe broke away form the Roman Catholic Church.

It was sparked by men like Martin Luther and John Calvin who made the
Bible instead of the Church, the basis of authority.

These men & women of the earliest days of the Reformation
experienced genuinerevival as they allowed the
Scriptures to mold their faith.

They realized that the Church was demanding many things of Christians
that were contrary to the Bible, so they reformed their practices.

These reforms brought great liberty to those around them, and the
Reformation spread to those who hadn’t felt the same work of the Spirit in
their souls.

The result was that soon there were people arguing about reform.

The arguing turned into fighting & bloodshed.

The Peasant’s War of 1524-26 saw thousands killed as the un-revived
sought to force reform on those who didn’t want it.

Martin Luther tried to stop the fighting, but to no avail.

In Geneva,
Calvin’s reforms led to the execution of those who refused to go along with
them.

The point is this –
reform
that isn’t rooted in & ruled by revival is a dangerous thing.

And ultimately, it won’t last – as the Book of
Judges proves.

2 So the Lord
sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan,
who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in
Harosheth Hagoyim.

The word “Jabin” was the title for the ruler of the powerful
city-state of Hazor.

Just like “Pharaoh” was the title
for the Egyptian king.

Hazor is located about 18 miles
north of the Sea of Galilee.

It sat on the main highway that
connects the coastal trade route with the caravan routes to Damascus &
Mesopotamia.[MAP]

The tel that marks the site of
ancient Hazor is huge; a sign that it was an important & well-fortified
city, the center of Northern Israel.[200 acres]

What Jericho was to the east, Hazor was to the
north.

Joshua had made Hazor the focal point of his conquests in
the North, but by now, some 150 year later, the Canaanites had rebuilt it.[Joshua 11]

While Jabin was a powerful political leader, his skill did
not extend into the realm of military strategy, so he’d offered Sisera the job
of commander of his army.

Sisera was a genius when it came to
conquest, & he was well-rewarded by Jabin.

The name “Sisera” isn’t Canaanitish – it comes from the language
of the Philistines.

The Philistines were part of what
is known in history as the Sea Peoples.

Their origin was in the islands of
the Eastern Aegean Sea.

About the same time Israel made their conquest of Canaan, the Sea
peoples were exploding out of their homes in the west and were making mass
migrations into the eastern Mediterranean.

The Philistines had originally
tried to settle along the northern coasts of Egypt but were repulsed by
Pharaoh’s army & navy.

So they ended up settling on the
largely abandoned coastline of Canaan at the same time Israel was just
beginning to take possession of the land.

Sisera was a Philistine military leader who lived in Harosheth
Hagoyim, a city to the west of Hazor in the Plain of Jezreel.

The smell of blood enraged them
& made them dangerous as they would charge into battle without fear.

900 iron
chariots was a huge force.

For 20 years Jabin kept his thumb
heavy on the Israelites, demanding they pay a tribute so high it left them with
barely enough to survive.

The threat was always there – “Pay
up, or we’ll wipe you out; and we got both the personnel and weapons to do it.”

4Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth,
was judging Israel
at that time. 5And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah
between Ramah and Bethel
in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

Deborah was a prophetess; God spoke through her to the
nation.

Of course, her message would have
been a call to repentance because that was Israel’s greatest need, and God
always deals with our real need.

As she gained a reputation for being a prophetess, people
began coming to her for help with their issues.

She lived in the region of Ephraim
in the middle of the land.

There was a palm tree she held
court under.

What’s curious about this is that it was the duty of the priests
to provide guidance & counsel for the people.

They were the stewards of God’s
Word & the mediators who were supposed to represent God to the people, as
well as the people to God.

As we’ll see when we get to the
last chapters, the priesthood had become horribly corrupted at this point.They weren’t doing their job.

So God bypassed them & used
someone who made herself available – Deborah.

It’s important to note here that God used a woman to lead
the nation at this point.

There are some who say that women cannot play a significant
role in ministry, that their sole duty is to take care of the
family.

That just doesn’t square with the
scriptures.

Deborah was one of the Judges.

Esther, Ruth, Mary, &
Priscilla are just a few of the women in the Bible who played a crucial role in
the plan of God.

God uses women.

But as we read on in Deborah’s
story, I think we’ll see some hints that she took this role as judge only
because no man would.

6Then she sent and called for Barak the son of
Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and
deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons
of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; 7 and against you I will
deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his
multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”

Deborah knew that God had already been speaking to Barak –
look at v. 6 again –

Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from
Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel
commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at MountTabor
. . .

How this word came to Barak we don’t know.

It may have been a previous message
Deborah had sent.

It may have come through the work
of the Spirit directly to Barak; we don’t know.

The point is – Barak had already
been told to do this & he’d delayed, so Deborah gives him a good
verbal poke & tells him to get on the ball!

The details of the battle were clear . . .

He was to take 10,000 men of the
tribes of Naphtali & Zebulun to Mt.Tabor there in the JezreelValley.

Sisera would lead out Jabin’s
forces to the River Kishon & they would face one another.

The reason Barak was to raise the army from Naphtali &
Zebulun was because they were the tribes most oppressed by Jabin.

8And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me,
then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”

Even though the message of God had been quite clear, Barak
balks, unless Deborah goes with him.

Deborah lived quite a ways to the
south & Barak had made a long journey in answering her summons in v. 6.

Now he says she must go back
with him on his way north.

Why did Barak demand that Deborah go with him?

The text doesn’t say but it’s not
hard to guess; as a prophetess, she’d be handy to have around.

If he needed further directions,
she’d be at hand instead of at her home miles to the south.

Also, it would be a lot easier to
recruit more troops if Deborah was with him and it was known that her prophecy
had said he was going to defeat Jabin’s forces.

9So she said, “I will surely go with you;
nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for
the Lord will sell Sisera into
the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Deborah consented to Barak’s demand so it doesn’t appear
that it was against God’s will.

But it wasn’t exactly what God
wanted either.

Barak was still refusing to
shoulder the call God had given him.

He was reluctant to trust God all
the way, and as a result, the reward wouldn’t be all his.

The real victory would be a
woman’s.

In Deborah’s reply to Barak we get a hint as to what’s going
on in Israel
at this time.

The men were weak & refused to
take their God-ordained role as leaders.

So God raised up women to do what
the men ought to have been doing.

Leading the army of Israel was Barak’s task which he
ought to have shouldered by himself with dependence on no one but God.

But he refused to accept the
responsibility by himself; he demanded Deborah share it with him.

Deborah knew Barak was supposed to
lead & had tried to encourage him to take the place God had assigned him.

When he conditioned his obedience
on her assistance, she consented for the sake of Israel and the deliverance to be
gained, but Barak’s lack of faith would cost him.

God’s will, will be done.

Nothing is going to stop His plan
for the ages going forward & coming to fruition.

God wants to use each & every
one of us in that plan.We all have an
assigned role.

But we have to choose if we’re
going to fulfill that role.

So Deborah accompanied Barak back to his city.

10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to
Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his command, and Deborah went up
with him.

As soon as Barak arrived back in
his city he sent out a summons to the tribes of Naphtali & Zebulun to meet
him at Mt.Tabor.

11 Now Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab
the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched
his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh.

We read about the Kenites in ch. 1.They were the family that descended from
Moses’ father in law.

They’d settled in the region of Judah, far to
the south.

But Heber had left them & moved
north to the encampment of Zaanaim near Barak’s hometown.

The translators have made a goof here in v. 11.

They refer to Hobab as Moses’
father in law.

In Numbers
10:29, he’s mentioned as the son of Reuel, Moses’
father-in-law.

That would make Hobab Moses’ brother-in-law,
not father-in-law.

So why then does v. 11 here refer
to him as Moses’ father-in-law?

The Hebrew word translated
“father-in-law” refers only to an “in-law.”

The translators added
the word “father” to provide clarity – but they goofed.

12And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son
of Abinoam had gone up to MountTabor.

Why the family of Heber informed Sisera of Barak’s
mobilization of troops remains a bit of a mystery.

He may have been an ally of Jabin’s
or he may have been neutral, waiting to see which way the tide of battle would
flow.

The stronger of the two forces at
this time would be Sisera’s with his iron chariots, so Heber threw in his lot with
Jabin’s army and went to warn Sisera that Barak was amassing a force and had
set up camp at Mt.Tabor.

13So Sisera gathered together all his chariots,
nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him,
from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.

A branch of the Kishon reaches all the way inland from the
western sea to not far from the foot of Tabor.

14Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is
the day in which the Lord has
delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord
gone out before you?” So Barak went down from MountTabor
with ten thousand men following him. 15And the Lord routed Sisera and all his
chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and
Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot.

We’ll see how God helped the army of Israel when we get to ch. 5.

For now just notice how Sisera had
to leave his chariot behind – an unusual move if it’s supposed to be such a
boon in battle.

16But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as
far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the
sword; not a man was left.

Something happened to render the advantage the chariots
supplied to be nullified.

We’ll see what that was in just a
moment.

An army that had 900 chariots would
be supported by an infantry of at least several thousand.

So this was a pretty even match
numbers wise.

The iron weapons of Jabin’s army
ought to have been the deciding factor.

But the loss of the chariots caused
the infantry to grow fearful and they turned tail and ran home to Mama.

They didn’t make it, as the
Israelites chased them down and slew them with their wimpy little bronze
swords.

17However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the
tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between
Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18And Jael
went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to
me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she
covered him with a blanket. 19Then he said to her, “Please give me a
little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a jug of milk, gave him
a drink, and covered him. 20And he said to her, “Stand at the door
of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any
man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ”

Sisera knew Heber’s clan was neutral & that refuge would
be granted him by Heber’s wife.

So he hid out in her tent.

Men & women kept different tents.

Remember the TV shows of the 50’s,
how whenever they showed the bedroom of a married couple, they had separate
beds?

No married couple really
lived that way, but they had to do that on TV because it would have
been considered scandalous to even IMPLY
that a husband & wife slept together!!My how times have changed.

Well, the same kind of sensibility was in force in this
time.

Men & women had separate tents.

A husband would visit
his wife’s tent for conjugal relations, but other times, he stayed in his own
tent.

No one other than a husband was
allowed in a woman’s tent.

Sisera figured Jael’s tent would
make a good hiding place.

Being tired from fleeing form the battle, he asked her for
something to drink.

She gave him some milk – because it
does a body good.

Now, don’t think of a nice, tall,
frothy glass of ice-cold milk.

This wasn’t that – it says she
opened a jug, this would be a ceramic container that was at room temperature.

The milk was cultured, probably more
like liquid yogurt, & a bit warm.

You tell me what happens if you’ve been battling for hours,
then run for miles as fast as you lil’ legs can carry you for fear of your
life, then gulp down several mouthfuls of warm milk, & settle under a cozy
blanket.

You’re going to sleep!And that’s what Sisera did; he started sawing
logs.

21 Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and
took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his
temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So
he died.

She nailed him!

Jael knew Heber’s position was to remain neutral as long as
there was any uncertainty about who was going to come out on top.

But when the head commander of
Jabin’s forces came running to her asking for help, it was obvious who’d won
& would now be in control.

So she decided to throw in her lot
with Barak & Israel.

Where Heber was at this moment is not known.

It possible he was still in
Harosheth Hagoyim after having warned Sisera.

If so, then when Barak attacked, he
could have been killed.

Or maybe he was on his way back
from Harosheth Hagoyim.

Where ever he was, Jael took action
and secured her future by siding with the people of God.

Sisera was the kind of guy that was too dangerous to let
live.

Even though he’d claimed refuge in
Jael’s tent, she knew that he was the kind of guy that if left alive would
return to bring more trouble.

Though bereft at this point of an
army, if he was let go, he had the skill to turn defeat into victory, so she
struck while he was incapacitated.

Sisera was the Osama bin Laden of his day – no matter how
far you go in attacking & destroying his ability to make war, he’s a clever
dog who manages to keep causing trouble.

Jael did what she knew she had
to do – kill him when she had the chance.

Jael demonstrates for us a principle for how to deal with
sin.

If we allow any sin, not matter how
small, to take refuge in our lives, it will eventually come back to bite us in
a major way.

So the best thing to do with it is
to end it once and for all when we have the chance.

What’s that chance?

Well, when it’s been given a
resounding defeat by the work of God’s Spirit & deliverance.

Here’s what happens . . .

We’re going along, struggling with
some sin, some wrong attitude, some major deal that’s oppressing and crippling
us as Jabin was oppressing Israel.

Then God sends some messenger with
His word who calls us to battle, as Deborah called Israel to return to the Lord.

Like Barak, at first we’re daunted
by the challenge because that thing we’re struggling with seems so big.

But with the encouragement of God’s
servant, we move into the fight, and God brings an amazing victory.

We see a huge change – but here’s
the danger, instead of pressing it all the way to the end, the root of that sin
seeks to hide in some little corner of our hearts & minds.

Like Jael, we need to stop acting
neutral in the battle between holiness & sin & decide once & for
all to make holiness our aim, giving no refuge to sin.

Drink deeply of the pure milk of
the Word – satisfy your soul in the goodness of God.

Then take the nail of truth &
the hammer of God’s Word & drive it into your mind by killing the lie sin
wants to hide under.

22And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came
out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you
seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the
peg in his temple. 23 So on that day God subdued Jabin king of
Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. 24 And the hand
of the children of Israel
grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had
destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

After the defeat of Sisera & Jabin’s army, defeating
Hazor was a piece of cake.

2.Deborah’s
victory songCh. 5

1 Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang
on that day, saying:

It’s from their song that we get some of the details of the
battle.

2“When leaders lead in Israel, When the people willingly
offer themselves, Bless the Lord!

Part of the problem that started this whole thing was that
the leaders of Israel
were not doing their job.

The tribal elders were not leading
the people in obedience to the Lord.

The priests had neglected their
duty of teaching God’s Word.

When there’s not leadership calling
people to the right way, they will turn to their own way.

Deborah & Barak had shown what happens when leaders do
what there are supposed to – blessing comes.

3“Hear, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I, even
I, will sing to the Lord; I will
sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.
4 “Lord, when You went
out from Seir, When You marched from the field of Edom, The earth trembled and
the heavens poured, The clouds also poured water; 5 The mountains
gushed before the Lord, This
Sinai, before the Lord God of
Israel.

As Barak led the army of Israel against Jabin’s army, God
brought up a massive thunderstorm from the region of the Southeast that dumped
buckets of rain on the plain.

It wasn’t long until Sisera’s
chariots were so mired in mud they couldn’t maneuver.

They became easy targets for the warriors
of Israel.

What made things doubly troublesome
for the Canaanites was that their god Baal was the god of war & rain.

So it looked like Baal was
fighting for Israel.

The Canaanite infantry saw the way
their chariots were becoming death traps and lost confidence & began a full
retreat.

But their route back to Harosheth
Hagoyim was blocked by the now flooding banks of the KishonRiver.

Everywhere the Canaanites turned
it looked like they were being corner & trapped for slaughter.

6 “In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath,

Which we read about in the last v. of ch. 3 . . .

In the days of Jael, The highways were deserted, And the
travelers walked along the byways. 7 Village life ceased, it ceased
in Israel, Until I, Deborah,
arose, Arose a mother in Israel.

The Canaanites had been so harsh on the Israelites there’d
been no travel or trade for fear of harassment.

This is the way it was until Deborah arrived on the scene
& stirred the people of Israel
to return to the Lord.

Notice has she refers to herself as a mother in Israel.

She’s not making a claim to
anything special here – she’s not calling herself THE mother OFIsrael (contrary to the KJV)

She’s simply a mother in Israel.

Her point was that she was no one
special, just a mom, but she was a mom who refused to compromise her faith in
God in the smallest way.

And God took that faithfulness &
turned it into the salvation of many.

8They chose new gods; Then there was war
in the gates; Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.

Because the Israelites turned form Yahweh to worship idols,
war came.

And Israel lost because she had no
weapons to speak of.

Where does this 40,000 come from?

So far we’ve only heard of 10,000
from Naphtali and Zebulun; where’d the other 30,000 come from?We’ll see in a moment.

9My heart is with the rulers of Israel
Who offered themselves willingly with the people. Bless the Lord! 10“Speak, you who ride
on white donkeys, Who sit in judges’ attire, And who walk along the road. 11Far
from the noise of the archers, among the watering places, There they shall
recount the righteous acts of the Lord,
The righteous acts for His villagers in Israel; Then the people of the Lord shall go down to the gates.

This is a call to declare & celebrate what God has done.

The badge of office for a ruler was a white donkey.

A ruler would make the rounds of
his region, riding on a white donkey.

He’s always come to the gate
of a city first where the people would welcome him, then he would make his
official announcements.

The idea here is that the leaders need to make sure the
story of God’s goodness is spread far & wide among His people.

12“Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a
song! Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, O son of Abinoam! 13“Then
the survivors came down, the people against the nobles; The Lord came down for me against the
mighty. 14 From Ephraim were those whose roots were in
Amalek. After you, Benjamin, with your peoples, From Machir [Manasseh] rulers
came down, And from Zebulun those who bear the recruiter’s staff. 15And
the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; As Issachar, so was
Barak Sent into the valley under his command;

They sing about those who came to the battle.

Joining the initial 10,000 from
Naphtali & Zebulun, were commanders & warriors from the tribes of Ephraim,
Benjamin, Manasseh & Issachar, as well as more from Zebulun than had
initially answered the summons.

This swelled the ranks from the
initial 10,000 to 40,000.

The reinforcements probably came
out to battle when they saw the weather change & knew Sisera’s chariots
would be of no use.

While these 4 tribes joined in the battle, some tribes
decided to sit it out . . .

15b - Among the divisions of Reuben There were great
resolves of heart. 16Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, To hear
the pipings for the flocks? The divisions of Reuben have great searchings of
heart.

Reuben fell prey to the “paralysis of analysis.”

Deborah puts it so poetically –
they had “great resolves & searchings of heart.”

This is probably a bit of sarcasm,
using a phrase they themselves had used when debating whether or not they
should answer the summons to battle.

Their leaders called a conclave
& said, “Now, let’s not be too hasty in going to battle.Let’s talk about this & make sure we’re
all in the same page.

“No point in running off without
making sure we’re doing the right thing.

“Let’s put on a little music &
meditate on this a while.

“Then we’ll all share our thoughts
& devise a formal policy statement we can release to the press.”

Before they had a chance to decide what to do, the battle
was over.

The opportunity to do something was
past.

It’s wisdom to make sure our response to a need isn’t just
an automatic reaction bereft of God’s counsel.

But when action is needed, the
analysis must end in a decision.

17Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan, And why did Dan remain on
ships? Asher continued at the seashore, And stayed by his inlets.

Gilead referred to the tribes on the east side of the Jordan.

Jabin hadn’t effected them so they
didn’t really care a whole lot about the battle.

Dan & Asher were having too good a time enjoying the
beach so they stayed home.

18 Zebulun is a people who
jeopardized their lives to the point of death, Naphtali also, on the heights of
the battlefield. 19 “The kings came and fought, Then the
kings of Canaan fought in Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; They took no spoils of silver.

As the ruler of the city-state of Hazor, Jabin was the lead
king of a coalition of lesser Canaanite kings in northern Israel.

They all threw in their forces
under Sisera’s command.

They’d hoped to turn this uprising
of Israel
into a route that would yield much plunder.

They didn’t get a shekel!

20They fought from the heavens; The stars from
their courses fought against Sisera.

Israel
had angelic assistance in the battle.

21The torrent of Kishon swept them away, That
ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon. O my soul, march on in strength! 22Then
the horses’ hooves pounded, the galloping, galloping of his steeds.

Now Deborah turns to rebuke one of the cities of Naphtali
that had not come to the battle.

23‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord, ‘Curse its inhabitants bitterly,
Because they did not come to the help of the Lord,
To the help of the Lord against
the mighty.’

Though the rest of the tribe of Naphtali had sent men to
answer Barak’s summons, Meroz had refused – and for this, they were cursed of
God.

24“Most blessed among women is Jael, The wife of
Heber the Kenite; Blessed is she among women in tents. 25 He asked
for water, she gave milk; She brought out cream in a lordly bowl. 26 She
stretched her hand to the tent peg, Her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; She
pounded Sisera, she pierced his head, She split and struck through his temple. 27
At her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; At her feet he sank, he fell;
Where he sank, there he fell dead.

Deborah praises Jael for the role she played that day.

She was a tough customer, but
she did what she had to do to make sure Sisera didn’t get away.

Then, Deborah shows the tenderness we’d expect from a woman
who’s a mother.

There’s a dark side to war, even in
conquest.

There are losses on both sides, and
no matter how sweet the victory for the conqueror, it’s always tempered by
those who’ve lost sons.

Deborah sings of Sisera’s mother,
waiting in Harosheth Hagoyim, looking out the window for the sign of his
return.

28 “The mother of Sisera looked through the
window, And cried out through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot so long
in coming? Why tarries the clatter of his chariots?’ 29 Her wisest
ladies answered her, Yes, she answered herself, 30 ‘Are they not
finding and dividing the spoil: To every man a girl or two; For Sisera,
plunder of dyed garments, Plunder of garments embroidered and dyed, Two pieces
of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?’

They would hold out the most positive thoughts at the delay
of the army’s return.